Standing on Holy Ground

October 31, 2008

Admittedly, I was not excited about voting today. The cold, the lines and the fact that my boyfriend's vote will cancel mine made me hesitant. But thankfully, God kicked me in the butt. I thought about a dying AIDS patient who begged INCESSANTLY to get him an absentee ballot. He may not see the results of the election, but he desperately wanted to vote. And we mailed his ballot yesterday. I thought of Frances Write, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, and the many others who fought so that women could vote. I thought of the women in Bhutan, Lebanon, Brunei, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who cannot vote, or who have to be among the educated elite to do so.

So I went. It took me 5 hours and it was not so much fun. It was cold and my legs hurt and there was a huge group of obnoxious college students in front of me. But then I thought of the music that played in my car this morning. We are Standing on Holy Ground. I hummed and sang this song throughout the not so fun time in line. Because it is Holy Ground that we were standing on. Regardless of who wins, this a historic election. A woman or a minority will lead this country. In South Africa this year, civil war almost broke out because minorities attempted to gain power. In the Middle East and throughout the world, any minority group attempting to have their voice heard is silenced with violence and war. How BLESSED are we that regardless of the outcome of this election, we will not have war in our streets. I am not naive. We may have outcries and there may very well be violence in certain areas. But our nation will not suffer and people will likely and hopefully not die based on the outcome.

Today I am proud of our country. I am proud that record numbers are coming out to vote. And no matter what the reason for the increased number, THIS. IS. AMAZING. I am proud that we have the courage to step out of the box of what has been. I am proud that we see the potential value in a woman or bi-racial man to lead us. I am sad that it took this long, but today, I am so proud of us. These are not easy times for this nation. But at the end of next week, we will have a new president. A president who has the best of intentions to lead us out of this mess. A president of a country that knows it cannot win an election without women and who values the women of our country. A president who, despite whether or not they can or will, truly wants to see us in a better place. And at the end of next week we will have had millions of people vote for the first time and feel for the first time that their vote actually counts.

So, thank you to the women that came generations before me that gave me the opportunity to stand in that heinously/wonderfully long line. Thank you to God for my life in a democratic country where I can vote safely, securely, and with the knowledge that my hopes and dreams for our nation truly do count.



By KeriS4 at 3:39pm